The present disclosure generally relates to dialysis systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis that recycle used dialysate through an electrodialysis- and electrodeionization-based regeneration system. These systems can perform high volume dialysis treatments without using large volumes of fresh dialysis fluid.
In both hemodialysis (“HD”) and peritoneal dialysis (“PD”), two general classes of dialysis systems currently exist. The first class uses fresh fluid (e.g., from a solution bag or some sort of water purification system) to generate dialysis fluid that is used to dialyze the individual. The second class uses “sorbent” technology to remove uremic toxins from waste dialysate. Therapeutic agents such as ions and/or glucose can be injected into the treated dialysate, which is used to continue the dialysis of the individual. The main advantage of the sorbent based approach is that very low volumes of fluid are required to achieve high volume dialysis treatments.
Disadvantages of sorbent systems include their high cost, disposability, and concerns regarding the purity of the recycled solution, as many ions remain in the fluid after treatment and verification of purity is technically challenging to perform. For example, sorbents can have high cartridge costs, insufficient removal of all of the tap water impurities, and insufficient removal of all of the uremic toxins in the used dialysate (e.g., sulfate). In addition, possible chemicals may be released or leached from the sorbent cartridge (e.g., zirconium). There may also be potential issues with pH and sodium balance.